Unless otherwise indicated herein, the description in this section is not prior art to the claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
There is known a communication device that receives an instruction for processing target data transmitted from an external device via a network and processes the target data according to the received instruction. It is also known for such a communication device to alternatively runs a normal mode in which all the operating units inside the device are powered, and an energy saving mode in which an operation unit or only some operating units, such as a communication control unit for receiving an instruction for processing target data from an external device via a network, are powered and the other operating units are not powered and in the sleep state.
Such a communication device, upon receiving an instruction for processing target data via a network from an external device under the energy saving mode, causes a predetermined operating unit to process the target data according to the received instruction after running the normal mode to resume powering all the operating units. As a result, such a communication device is apt to unnecessarily power the operating units not required for processing the target data.
A certain technique, for example, adopts a Multi-Function Printer (MFP) that, for each job, maps in advance an IP address to a combination of function blocks required to be operated at the time of running the job, and stores them. When causing the MFP to execute a job, the external device specifies an IP address mapped to the job as its destination, and transmits a job execution instruction. The MFP receives the job execution instruction in a communication unit corresponding to the IP address specified by the external device, and then, use the stored information in advance to recognize the job mapped to the IP address and the combination of the function blocks mapped to the job. Then the MFP only powers the function blocks included in the recognized combination and executes the job. The MFP thus avoids unnecessarily powering a function block not required for executing a job.